| 11/20/2003 Democrat Offers Compromise to US Food Labeling Law - 11/18 Forbes Stenholm, the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said a temporary delay would help resolve differences over country-of-origin labels for beef, pork and veal. "We got the cart before the horse," Stenholm said in a speech to a commodity group lunch. "Give us a couple of years to develop a voluntary system that works, in which you will have a very high percentage of all food products labeled." The House has voted to block the U.S. Agriculture Department from writing rules for the meat labels, which are required by law after Sept. 30, 2004. Senators adopted nonbinding language this month that says the labeling law should take effect as scheduled. House and Senate negotiators hoped to meet this week to reconcile their separate agriculture spending bills. The labeling program, which is currently voluntary, is expected to be the biggest obstacle to an agreement. With support from consumers and farm groups, Congress passed the labeling law last year as a way to distinguish U.S.-grown meat from competitors at the grocery store. American grocers and meat groups want the law repealed, saying it will be too costly and create a record-keeping nightmare. Last month, the USDA estimated the mandatory labeling program would cost American food makers up to $3.9 billion in its first year. Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service Related Link: http://www.forbes.com |
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